LAHORE: The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) Punjab claimed on Tuesday to have retrieved a commercial state property worth over Rs480 million from PML-N leader Abdul Samad. “A commercial state land measuring 12 kanals worth over Rs480 million has been retrieved by the ACE Punjab from a PML-N leader from Borewala, Abdul Samad,” an ACE spokesperson said, adding the lawmaker had allegedly illegal possession of the land for the last 10 years and he had constructed a law college on it.

As per the revenue record, he said, the land was given on lease to the Punjab Cooperative Bank for a period of 99 years by commissioner Multan back in 1959 for an agricultural warehouse of the bank. According to the lease agreement, the bank could not sub let or sub-lease the government property to any other party neither could it be utilised for purposes other than specified in the agreement, he added.

However in 2010, Abdul Samad allegedly used his political influence and took over the government property on a monthly rent of Rs35,000 from the bank and constructed a commercial building where he had been running Askari Law College for the last decade, the spokesperson said.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2021